Mr. Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters on Thursday that Iran had officially requested the northern neighbor to cancel visa requirements; "if the country wants to respect Iranians as Iran respected its citizens, it would consider changes in visa requirements which would provide a positive and popular image to the Iranian public," he added.

Ghashghavi also criticized Turkish government of systematically lacking strong will to prevent border crossing violence against Iranian citizens; "the embassy in Ankara regularly addresses the case of families, victims of violence practices by Turkish border patrol officials; the government has responded, claiming that the perpetrators of violence and aggressive behavior against Iranians had been punished," he said.

In a few occasions, Iranians crossing land borders in northwest of the country had been bitten and maltreated by Turkish border agents, the most recent had been in last March. The videos of some of the incidents have gone viral in the ubiquitous social media and incited anger and frustration in Iranians.

Ghashghavi also announced plans to meet the requirements of the decision which had selected Tabriz as the Tourism Capital of Islamic Countries in 2018; "Tabriz's Shahid Madani International Airport will enjoy the privilege of offering airport visa for foreign tourists accordingly; an investment of $1.5bn for the province reveals the resolve by the officials to meet such standards and to make the province a frequent destination for global tourism," he concluded.